


Cross the Red Line

by blackredpanda



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Head pats, Interrogation, Rated For Violence, Torture, moral crisis, robot gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 21:30:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18396731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackredpanda/pseuds/blackredpanda
Summary: How far will Red Alert go to stop a Maverick plot?





	Cross the Red Line

**Author's Note:**

> A day may come when I write more content for these two without angst, pain, or dubious morals.
> 
> But it is not this day.

Red stepped back to examine his handiwork. Axl was glaring at him, thoroughly annoyed.

To be fair, Red thought, he _had_ just cuffed Axl's hands behind him to a chair and taped his mouth shut.

"Well, looks like you're all set."

Axl snorted. <Then what are you waiting for?> he sent over their short-range link. <Bring him in and we can get started.>

Now his eyes shone with a cold light which Red had seen many times before, whenever they closed in on their targets. Red grunted and turned aside. Axl was always eager to hunt Mavericks, but this was... something else. "This won't be pretty, you know. I wouldn't have roped you into this if there was another way."

<Don't worry. I told you, it doesn't hurt. And I've got plenty of reserve power.>

Red kept his eye on Axl as he slowly shook his head. "I wasn't talking about that part."

<Then... what's wrong? We do whatever it takes, right?>

"...You'll see soon enough. We should get going."

 

* * *

 

Pain –

Gage's eyes snapped open as he doubled over, convulsing.

Breathe – oh, his core hurt –

"Rise and shine!" someone jeered.

With each gulp of the cold, damp air, more control returned to Gage's body and senses. He realised now that a punch to his gut had jarred his core and forced him back to consciousness. But he had a lot of other questions.

He wasn't sure where he was exactly, but he was chained down to a chair, with a communications jammer stuck to his head, in a small, bare-walled room with a single overhead light. As for how he got here... the last thing he remembered was calling his girlfriend and listening to her complain about work. No doubt, though, the Reploid standing in front of him was responsible for his predicament. The red, curved spikes on the Reploid's armour and the deep gash through his missing right eye made him instantly recognisable as Red, the infamous vigilante leader.

Gage didn't like any of the answers to his questions.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"I'd like to know where you planted the bombs," Red said lightly, as if he'd asked what the weather was like outside.

But from a brief glance about the room, Gage could see a table to his left, on which someone had neatly laid out a drill, a circular saw, and a blowtorch head, among other tools. It wasn't difficult to guess what they were for.

Well. Red could try. All Gage had to do was hold out for one hour, and it would be too late for Red to stop them. Even if Red killed him afterwards, at least they would have sent their message, and the others could continue the work.

"Do your worst."

Red heaved a dramatic sigh. "I thought you might say that."

Gage shot another glance at the table, expecting Red to start choosing a tool to misuse. Instead, he turned his back and crossed the room. Now that Red wasn't in the way, Gage noticed a figure hunched over in a chair, set against the wall opposite him, covered in a dark cloak. His core sank. Had Red nabbed one of the others? If it was Edge, he'd probably squeal the second Red looked at him funny –

Then Red pulled back the cloak – and Gage wished it was one of the others.

How did Red find out about her?!

"Calix! How – what did he – are you all right?!"

Bound and gagged as she was, the only response Calix had was a cry of dismay.

"She will be," Red chuckled. "If you talk."

This... this couldn't be happening. Red Alert wasn't shy about collateral damage, but Gage had never heard of them going after civilians on purpose. Did Red think –

"She doesn't know – she has nothing to do with any of this!"

"Of course she doesn't. I can tell she's not the type."

"But... you wouldn't – "

Red cut him off with a harsh, barking laugh. "Know me that well, do you? Here's the deal. If you want to keep her out of this, all you have to do is talk. If not... you can just sit there and watch while you wait for the bombs to go off." Calix sobbed and trembled in Red's grip as he seized her hair and pulled her upright. "But I don't think she'll like that very much."

An icy dread crawled through Gage's conduits as everything clicked into place. So Red had known there wasn't much time left. He knew Gage might have been able to resist, but Calix –

He gulped hard, and the thought sank like a stone into his core. How were they going to get out of this?

"Still clamming up?" Now Red stepped toward the table and snatched up the drill, holding it up to the light so his captives could see him run his fingers along all six inches of the drill bit. "Let's try this. It's no plasma cutter, but if I aim someplace where the electronics and damage sensors are particularly delicate... her eyes, for example... I think it'll do."

Gage was speechless.

"I'll have to go real slowly, though. After all, at about..." here Red measured off two inches on the drill bit, "this depth, I'll hit something that's harder to fix. She'll live – I think – but it's always so difficult to predict the effects of cortex circuit damage. Then again... she did manage to fall for you. So maybe it won't make any difference."

"Leave her alone!" Gage roared, his chains rattling as he lunged at Red – or tried to. "Settle your score with _me_!"

Red scoffed and shook his head. "Last chance now."

As Red closed in, Calix cried out, shrill with panic, backing away from him and struggling wildly in one final, desperate attempt to get free. He took no notice. Stepping between her and Gage, he pinned her head to the wall with his free hand.

"Where are the bombs?"

Gage swallowed. Would he sound convincing enough if he said –

The drill buzzed to life. Then its pitch dropped as it sank into something solid, and Calix screamed –

" _Stop!_ I'll talk!"

Even with Calix's muffled groans, the silence which fell was a mercy.

"I – our targets were Greenwood Technologies, Ecosystems Unlimited, and Blue Sky Incorporated. The bombs should be in their office blocks and research labs. That's all I know!"

"Hmph." Red stood up and tapped his aural cone. "Crowrang, Boarski, Stonekong – grab whoever you have and get to these coordinates..."

Calix had sagged against the wall once Red let go. She'd turned as much as she could to hide her face, but from the brief glimpse Gage caught, it was clear enough that the outer shell of her left eye had been shattered, exposing the sensors inside. Her uninjured eye stared in Gage's direction, unseeing, while her body heaved with each tearing, rasping breath.

"Calix!" Gage whispered hoarsely. "It'll be okay... please, look at me..."

He stopped. Red had finished his transmission and was watching them.

"You have what you want," Gage said, his voice hollow. "Let her go."

"No."

This time, Gage could plainly see Red wrapping his hand around Calix's throat.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Unless my friends find all the bombs and report back in one piece, she's not going anywhere."

As soon as Gage realised what that meant, the words tumbled out on their own. "The bombs are – they're rigged to blow if someone tries to move them! Cut the black wires first!"

"Of course. Anything else you'd like to tell us?"

"No! I swear! Please – "

"Oh, I'm sure there's something. You didn't plan this alone. So... it's time for a bonus round."

Calix stiffened as Red angled her head upwards and slid the drill into her mutilated eye. Then he scraped, as if gauging the depth, causing her to start violently. He hissed through his teeth and tightened his grip, strangling her cries, until she whimpered and went still. Satisfied, he turned back to Gage. A smile slowly crept across his face, baring the long, sharp canines Reploids built for bloodshed often had.

"Next question..."

 

* * *

 

"That's all... that has to be all..."

Gage curled up in his chair, shivering, eyes squeezed shut. Everyone who'd dragged him into this miserable plot was as good as dead. Maybe they'd at least make Red and his thugs work for it. Maybe not. None of that mattered.

"Please... just let her go..."

"...Fine. We finished with the bombs a while ago. So you've certainly been very helpful."

Gage opened his eyes. Red had removed the drill and backed off from Calix. But the sight brought Gage no relief; instead, a new misgiving wound its way around his core.

Calix was sitting up straight and staring directly at him. For some reason, her damaged eye wasn't sparking, and what was worse, her good eye now held a strange, vicious light. Then she slipped her bonds and tore the gag from her mouth in one swift motion. A moment later, as he watched in growing horror, a white light shimmered over her and she was gone. In her place stood a Reploid with black and red armour and a forked scar between his intact, gleaming eyes.

"Got you good, didn't we?" The shapeshifter drew a handgun and moved closer to his prey. "There's one more thing you can do for us."

Several seconds passed before Gage found what would be his last words. "Who – _what_ are you?! And what have you done to Calix?!"

The shapeshifter hesitated. "She'll be fine," he replied. "If we wanted to hurt her to get at you, she'd be here. You can have that much."

...What had he done?! He'd given up every contact, every detail, to Red Alert, and with this information – if this fiend could take Calix's appearance, he could turn into Gage as well, and everyone Gage knew – maybe even Calix herself – would be none the wiser. What was Red Alert going to do to them?

For a moment longer, the shapeshifter held his gaze. His green eyes flickered aside as he touched the trigger of his gun and fired once.

 

* * *

 

_{DNA data successfully acquired.}_

Axl removed his hand from Gage's body and quietly filed away the data, not wanting to be reminded of the look on Gage's face. Normally, part of the fun was revealing himself and watching targets gape at him, or swear vengeance, or beg for mercy. This was... different.

Of course Gage had thought they were ruthless enough to torture his friend. That had been the entire point. But seeing him die with that horror and despair still in his eyes...

Was this what Red had meant, earlier?

"You played your part well," Red said. Then he paused. Axl had taken half a step back as he approached.

"...Did I scare you? I know I cut it a little close."

The scratching of the drill in his morph's fake injury, while Red was getting the right depth and silently yelling at him to _not move_ , was another thing Axl wanted to forget. That was nothing though, compared to –

He had to know.

"If... I couldn't copy her... would you have kidnapped her for real? You said we do whatever it takes, but... you also said we only go after bad guys."

Red let out a long breath. In the harsh light from the overhead lamp, the shadows his features cast seemed to darken. "You could, and I didn't. That's all that matters."

Axl frowned. That wasn't an answer. Ever since Red had found him, he'd been taught – he'd known, in fact – that Mavericks hurt the innocent and had to be stopped, even if Red Alert had to fight dirty. But if they deliberately harmed innocents themselves... what would that make them?

His fingers clenched around the gun he was still holding.

"Hey."

Axl glanced up.

"It's all right," Red was saying, as he reached out his hand. "We haven't – we're not going there, all right?"

The way Red's gaze was fixed on Axl's eyes, he looked... frightened.

What could possibly scare Red? Why would he...

Axl didn't want that. He didn't want Red to look at him like that.

Perhaps Red was right. If they ever crossed that line, he'd figure out what to do then. No point thinking about it now.

He put his gun away, lowered his head, and held still, allowing Red to gently stroke his helmet. Neither Reploid spoke for several moments.

At last, Red cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "Go and get some rest."

"...Shouldn't we go hunt down his buddies?"

Red turned and stooped to untie Gage's body. "There'll be time," he said. "After all, we know where to find them." He hefted the corpse over his shoulder and walked out of the room.

Axl trotted after him without looking back.

**Author's Note:**

> This has to be one of the worst uses for shapeshifting I can think of. The thing with Axl's eye socket was a genuine accident which Red took advantage of; Red's depth perception is impaired.
> 
> Reads and kudos always appreciated. All comments welcome, including but not limited to short comments, rambles, questions, or constructive criticism.


End file.
